You are a leaf, floating gently on the slight breeze. Below you is a clearing, the morning sun glinting off of dew that still coats the grass. A random puff of wind sends you spinning upwards, above the line of trees, to where the whole world is revealed.
Off in the distance, two lines of beings walk slowly towards the clearing, one from the west, one from the east. The darkness of the west is personified in the beings walking from it, while from the east comes beings of light, pure, shining white.
Another breeze knocks you back down, closer to ground in the clearing and, as you spin gently, the two lines converge within the clearing, entering as one and swirling around in opposite directions, fanning out into strange patterns that are only truly noted from your position in the sky. Finally, the lines halt, all beings poised like statues from the same mold, all holding themselves rigid in the same position.
A faint chant starts up in the eastern side of the pattern, spreading slowly to the south, then west, then north. Two figures, graceful and sure in their movements, step from opposite sides into the clear center. One, from the eastern side, pure and light, with long, streaming white hair that the breeze playfully tugs at, the other, from the western side, dark, but yet light in his own way, a friendly darkness that all the dark figures share. His short, black mane of hair is ruffled slightly in the breeze that swirls around him.
Slowly at first, then in ever increasing speed, the two figures dance in ritual movements, each one answering the other's movements with movements of his or her own. A beat after the first two start, the pattern starts to move, as the other beings echo the movements of their type, light mirroring light, dark mirroring dark.
The scene before you starts to become overlaid with another, much more ancient scene, as the breeze whips you around in its own imitation of the dance. Unicorns take the place of the humanoid dancers, their long, sparkling horns tracing designs in the air that the humanoids' hands trace as they go through the dance. The unicorns dance their own version of the dance, a dance for four leggers, but just as complicated and graceful as the humanoids' version.
The breeze whips you down, into the midst of the graceful dance. Humanoids, overlaid with unicorns in every instance, are all around you, their graceful movements seeming to defy nature in subtle ways. A closer look reveals their strange secret, every unicorn is a humanoid, and every humanoid is a unicorn.
Their dance continues as the sun climbs high up into the sky, slacking not once in their pace. The noonday sun glints off the humanoids' foreheads, where a single, spiraling horn rises gracefully, the points sharp and glittering in the sunlight.
Playful, conflicting breezes grab you up, whipping you from side to side, around the dancers as they weave their mystical dance. Faces pass before your eyes, soft, gentle faces that hesitate to violence, but yet will defend those they love against everything.
Finally, with a last, strong puff of air, you enter into the very center of the dance. Around you, the two main dancers twirl, each movement of one eliciting a response from the other. A strong gust of wind lifts you up then, raising you swiftly above the heads of the dancers, above the tree tops, and, finally, away from the clearing, leaving behind the dancers, leaving you to slowly drift down to the ground, far from the clearing, where you lay, resting finally.
His soft, calming mind voice trailed off as his dark gold eyes broke contact with her much paler gold ones. The setting sun caught in his softly black horn, making it glow from within in the fading light.
Pale gold eyes widened as she watched him turn away and pull his cloak hood over his head once more, hiding his horn from the world. Her own pearly horn caught the sunlight, glowing softly as well, but she, unlike him, refused to cover it.
"Why do you hide it?" she asked softly, trying to meet his eyes again.
He turned to look over the wall that they stood upon, his eyes scanning the ground outside as if looking for attackers, "I must work with humans every day, and you know their attitude towards us. How you light ones ever found a way to hide your knowledge of that from yourselves I will never know."
"But... surely they wouldn't try to take your horn!"
"Mykria, have you no knowledge of the greed of humans? That dance that I showed you was performed over a hundred years ago! Our kind do not have the numbers to reproduce it ever again, and all because of greedy humans betraying us!" he stamped a foot, and for an instant a dark, sharply distinct ebony unicorn stood there, a slight hint of pearly glow to his otherwise dark body. That instant was a short lived one, as he regained his control, forcing his form back to that of almost a pure human. His skin still shone a slightly pearly ebony color, though, and his dark hair seemed more like a mane than a human's head of hair.
Mykira stepped up to him, reaching up to push his hood back once more, but he moved back quickly, refusing to meet her eyes. A unicorn who purposely hid his heritage, who refused all connection with them, even though he had to be careful to always hide his face in shadows... he was a betrayer to his own kind. It was only because of this relatively young and innocent light unicorn that he had finally admitted once again that he was of the kin.
He felt empty, though he hesitated to reveal it to anyone, even this one of his own kind. That last dance that he had shown Mykira was only two years before her own time and he, being six years older, had been one of the lead dancers. He had felt the magic surge through him as he had summoned up the ancient ancestors, had felt their welcoming response, a response that had suddenly turned cold, as the sun was just barely beginning to set.
They had abandoned their descendents, no longer offering their aid to the wounded and weary, no longer offering guidance to the leaders of the herds. Herds had broken, family ties sundered as confusion reigned, and humans took advantage of it all, capturing many of the darker ones, claiming that they were evil spirits that had to be killed or contained.
He had learned to cope, had learned to survive in a land dominated by humans by cutting off all his ties with the unicorns and hiding his physical attributes.
Mykira, persistent as always, stepped up to him once again, her nimble fingers grabbing the edge of his hood before he could jerk away.
"Leave be," he growled softly, as he yanked it up once more then quickly left the ramparts, leaving Mykira by herself once more.
Her pale gold eyes traced his path as he hurriedly crossed the green then entered into another part of the castle.
She turned then, her eyes sweeping across the now dark sky, tracing the ancient sky patterns picked out in sparkling stars that winked into existance as she watched.
"Goddess," she whispered softly, "What is wrong with him? Can't he see the beauty of the world still?" yet the only response that she got was, as always, silence, not the odd feeling of immense power and age that she had sensed in the scene he had given her.
Was that why he was so cold to the world? She knew he was older than she was by a few years, but had he danced in that final dance? Shared that incredible feeling that she had only slightly sensed? Both of them were young yet, with many centuries of existence yet in front of them, but it was like he had given up long ago and was only waiting for death to free him from something.
The sky patterns glowed in the dark sky, looking down upon one lone, lost light unicorn.
He slipped into the council chamber softly, bowing low as he greeted the lord.
"Forgive me for my lateness, my liege, but I was seeing to the child," he said softly.
"Forgiven, now take your seat, Dakaleran," the lord responded airily, as he motioned towards a seat set where little light fell upon it. He would never let on, but he knew who this strange, seemingly immortal advisor was and, having grown up with legends about the unicorns, he was in slight awe of Dakaleran, no matter how much he refused to admit it.
Dakaleran slipped smoothly into the seat, settling himself easily, gratefully turning his mind to the tasks on hand. For that one instant, when he had forgotten himself enough to almost fully change, every longing in him had risen up again. Suddenly, he wished to once more feel the wind through his mane as he raced across the flat plain, suddenly he wished to find his kin again... but that was impossible.
It was all that light one's fault, she had so innocently arrived in the human city, unaware of what might happen to her, that he felt protective of her suddenly, reverting to using his magic to hide her horn so that no humans would capture her. That tiny use of magic had opened the gates to all his other abilities, mind speaking, shape changing, everything, no matter how well he had believed them blocked.
Petitioners filed into the council room, and, quickly, he bent his mind to their troubles, throwing himself head first into his work.
Mykira stepped down from the ramparts, exploring the grounds. Dimly, she could feel him in the back of her mind, a result of the mind sharing they had done earlier, she felt him trying to block off his reawakened abilities as he threw himself into his work like a maniac. There had to be a way to cure that...
Her long, nimble fingers traced patterns on her arms as she thought. She needed to get him away from here, away from these humans that made him so stiff and shy about his heritage.
::Perhaps I can help there?:: A voice remarked in her head, as a green shape landed gracefully in the, thankfully, large grounds.
Mykira stared up at the green dragon, as it folded its wings. She was about to mind send a reply, when a shape dismounting from the dragon's back drew her eyes.
A human with short, black hair landed neatly, then strode over to her.
"Hello there," the woman remarked with a smile, her dark green eyes watching Mykira intently, "I'm Maira, and that green dragoness over there is Dresynith. What's your name?"
"Mykira," she answered softly, glancing up at Dresynith, sending, ::What do you mean you can help there?::
::I mean,:: the dragoness responded, ::that, possibly, a change of worlds and impressing a dragon will change his attitude. And I think you should stand as well, I could hear you thinking the minute I came out of between.::
::Ah! Sorry!:: She frowned, ::I didn't mean to think that loudly.::
Maira glanced from her dragon to Mykira, slightly amused, "Apparently my dragon likes you, she hasn't been this chatty with a perspective candidate in a while."
Mykira shrugged, "Most non-humans tend to like unicorns."
That brought an odd look from Maira, "Unicorns? Mykira, you're about as much a unicorn as I am a dragon."
She stared at the dragon rider for a second, before she understood. Her horn was covered, probably by Dakaleran's magic. Reaching up to her forehead, she cast a slight bit of magic herself, chasing away the tendrils of power that were wrapped around it, revealing it to Maira.
Maira's eyes widened as she saw the horn, and she sent a slightly reproachful look at Dresynith as her dragon laughed in her head, apparently illusion magic didn't work against dragons, of any kind.
::So,:: Mykira sent to the dragoness, ::is there any special thing I and Dakaleran have to do to become candidates?::
::No, just come with me, everything will be set up when you arrive.::
::That requires that I get him out here, doesn't it...::
::That would help,:: the dragoness remarked, amused.
Mykira smiled, then said out loud, "Excuse me for a minute while I figure out a way to get him out here."
Maira nodded her acceptance, then watched as Mykira closed her eyes and... appeared to do nothing.
As the final petitioner closed up his case and turned to leave, Dakaleran suddenly felt as if the walls were closing in upon him. The room was too stuffy, too enclosed, he had to get out of there, and soon.
Glancing at the retreating back of the last human, he rose and crossed over to where the lord sat, whispering softly, "Excuse me, but I feel the need for some fresh air."
The lord nodded his acceptance, after all, Dakaleran wasn't much needed in the formalities afterwards, and the room was quite stuffy, since it had no windows at all and no air circulation.
Walking out calmly, with a pretended show of unconcern, Dakaleran quickly exited the castle and walked out onto the grounds in the back, inhaling deeply the cooler, moving air.
"So, it worked, I was wondering if you were susceptible to that type of magic," Mykira's soft voice remarked, interrupting his thoughts.
Startled, he looked up, instantly taking in the dragon and human that stood near Mykira... and her glowing horn, which had no traces of his magic anywhere on it.
"What are you doing?! Showing yourself to a human! You remember what I told you!" he exclaimed, shocked and angry. The lights had no sense in them, how they had managed to survive was a mystery to him. If just one of those ever greedy lordlings happened to look out here and see her, nothing would save her, or him!
He was so shocked, that his reaction time was down too far. She strode quickly over to him, grabbed his hood, then yanked it and the cloak off, darting out of his reach before he could react.
He stood there, stunned, to stunned to move. Without his hood and cloak he felt practically naked, especially here in front of a human! Dark clothes still covered him, but his horn was exposed for all to see!
Only fleetingly did he notice at the human climbed up onto the dragon's back and settled herself there. His wide, dark gold eyes were locked with Mykira's paler ones, shock filling them. Exposed... his life was in danger for the first time in decades! And all thanks to this insane light unicorn who kept insisting that he admit what he was in front of humans!
"Come on, silly!" she remarked as she grabbed his wrist and dragged him over to the dragon, pulling herself and him up behind the human, "It's time you got away from here anyway."
Unresisting, he let himself be pulled up onto the dragon's back, managing to get out, "Going where?"
"To another planet, to bond dragons! It's time you acknowledged what you are," she smiled at him, "And this is one of the best ways to do that, I believe."
"But!"
"No buts," she remarked, putting a long finger to his lips, her body twisted around into an uncomfortable looking position as Dresynith leaped into the air, her wings beating strongly, removing almost all chances to talk.
Suddenly, they blinked between, and both stiffened with surprise, even though they couldn't feel their bodies. The cold bit at them viciously, ripping at what breath they had in their lungs.
Suddenly, finally, after what seemed like eternity but was really only a few heartbeats, they came out over a beautiful place, with a few dragons flitting around or sunning themselves on ledges.
If possible, Dakaleran's already wide eyes widened even more, as he stared about him. It was different, certainly, the world seemed... brighter somehow.
Mykira soaked it all in, her eyes darting everywhere. Suddenly the idea of impressing one of these dragons became all the more interesting and exciting, now if only she could get Dakaleran to admit that...
He sat behind her like a statue warmed by the sunlight as they spiraled down to land lightly in the large courtyard like area of the place, stirring only to jump down, sending a glare her way as she tried to help him.
This wasn't his idea at all, never in a thousand lifetimes would he have ever accepted an offer like the one Mykira accepted. He had been happy where he was, in his position of respect and power, safe from detection. Here, he was not only a no one, but he was exposed as what he truly was and, worst of all, exposed around humans.
He tried to pull himself free as Mykira grabbed his arm and started dragging him after Maira, but she grip was tighter and stronger than he had remembered, and he only succeeded in hurting himself.
"Stop being a big baby," Mykira growled at him softly, "The humans here won't hurt us."
"I would feel better if you would kindly allow me to wear my accustomed clothing!" he snapped back, softly enough that only a few humans around them could hear it.
"In time," she responded with a smile, "For now, let's follow Maira to what she calls the hatching sands."
As she said that, they entered into a large cavern filled with golden sand, where three dragons lay in separate areas, all laying near groups of eggs. Two were golden queens, while the third was a green, and all of them looked up as they entered.
::I want you for my clutch,:: one of the dragons remarked.
Mykira looked around, trying to pick out which of the three had spoken, until Dakaleran, touched her shoulder and pointed towards a very eye catching golden dragoness.
Mykira tilted her head to one side, ::You want us to stand for your clutch? Even knowing what we are?::
A human's voice answered her with a chuckle, "What Frynoth wants, she generally gets. And yes, even knowing what you are we'd accept you as candidates."
Eyes wide, Dakaleran spun to face the speaker, and was confronted with a human woman with long, brown hair. Her blue eyes looked him over, then looked over at Mykira, taking her in as well.
"Names? Mine's Trix," she asked.
Mykira responded quickly, before Dakaleran could protest at anything, "I'm Mykira, and that's Dakaleran."
"I see... and would you accept the offer of standing for Frynoth's clutch?"
Once more, Mykira answered before Dakaleran could, "Of course! Both of us will stand."
She sent a sharp look at Dakaleran that silenced him before he could even come up with a way to get out of it.
Lights! Bossy creatures with no common sense! How they ever survived is beyond me, he thought to himself, carefully masking his thoughts from everyone.
The woman smiled, "It's settled then, you'll stand for this clutch when it hatches. Can you direct them to the candidate barracks, Maira?"
Maira smiled, then nodded, "Of course, come on you two."
Mykira turned and followed Maira out, grabbing Dakaleran's arm again and dragging him off the sands, although she really didn't have too, he was happy enough just to leave that place behind, although, upon exiting the hatching sands and walking into the more inhabited areas, he began to get nervous under the stares of many different humans.
Mykira smiled to herself, she'd break him of that soon enough!